Tabha

Hendrik (Enno) Bron

07/10/2009

Final Report

During January 2009, a trial excavation was conducted at the church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes near the Benedictine monastery (Permit No. A-5585; map ref. NIG 251693–773/753200–231; OIG 201693–773/253200–231), prior to the expansion of the monastery. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the German Association of the Holy Land, was directed by H. Bron, with the assistance of Y. Ya‘aqobi (administration) and A. Hajian (surveying and drafting).

The church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes is situated close to the Sea of Galilee shore, between the Kefar Nahum junction and the site of the ancient Capernaum village. The Greeks had named this area Heptapegon, i.e., the seven springs’; today, only five springs have remained. The Arabic name Tabiha/Tabha means cooked food and it alludes to miracles performed by Jesus, such as the feeding of his 5000 followers, as mentioned in Mark 6:34, Matthew 14:13, Luke 9:11 and John 6:1.

A number of excavations had been carried out in this area; the early ones in 1932 by A.E Mader, assisted by A.M. Schneider who published the results (Die Brotvermehrungskirche von Et-Tabga am Genesarethsee und ihre Mosaiken, Paderborn 1934; The Church of the Multiplying of the Loaves and Fishes, London 1937) and the later excavations by B. Bagatti and S. Loffreda (Scavi di et-Tabgha: Relazione Finale della Campagna di Scavi 25 Marzo–20 Giugno 1969 [Collection Minor 7], Jerusalem 1970) and R. Rosenthal and M. Hershkovitz (IEJ 30, 1980:207). These excavations revealed a small chapel and a Byzantine basilica that had rich mosaic floors, which were removed and reinstated in the modern church.

The current excavation area consisted of a single square (4 × 6 m; Fig. 1), set parallel to the church wall; it aimed to expose part of the ancient church, which was not excavated before. Meager archeological remains were uncovered and two levels were distinguished, including a stone layer, a severely damaged wall and partial remains of a plaster floor (Fig 2).

Level 1: Following the removal of a modern sand layer (thickness c. 0.5 m), a layer of compact grayish brown matrix with very few potsherds was exposed (L100; Fig.3).

This layer included a feature of small and medium-sized stones, as well as white colored mortar or plaster; the purpose of which is unknown. On the north side of this feature, the stones appear to be set in a semicircle (width 1 m, preserved height 0.6 m; Fig. 4), which could be the remains of a pillar base (?).

The potsherds in this level were worn and non-diagnostic. The large amount of modern debris probably resulted from the hewing of a drain pipe channel (0.15 m within bedrock), which had cut through the whole length of the excavation area.

Level 2: This level consisted of a badly preserved wall (W10; length 0.65 m; Fig. 5). Wall 10, built of square basalt stones in an east–west direction, was preserved a single course high (0.3 m). Some flat stones that extended westward indicate that W10 had originally continued in this direction and was set directly upon bedrock, yet it suffered extensive damage, probably due to the drain-pipe channel. The preserved part of W10 probably represents part of the ancient church’s inner wall.

To the south of W10 were the badly preserved remains of a beaten-earth floor, coated with plaster and overlain with stone collapse (Floor B; Fig. 6). It is likely that Floor B was associated with W10, although the damage cause by the drain pipe channel precludes any connection.

The stone collapse (L102), to the west of Floor B, could be part of the stone element (L100) in Level 1, in which case it formed the outer wall of the Byzantine church that was discovered during the 1932 excavations. A probe (L101) excavated to the south of the stone collapse revealed a British Mandatory coin dating to 1940; it indicates that the area was exposed close to bedrock at this time.

The current excavations at Tabha exposed the continuation of the inner wall and probably the remains of the outer wall of the fifth-century CE Byzantine church.

The excavated archeological remains were very meager and no coins, diagnostic potsherds or glass fragments were found in context; however, the excavation agrees with the conclusions of the 1979–1980 excavations at the site.